Viola+Koepping

On June 7, 1929, 20-year-old Viola Koepping died at the office of Dr. Albert West of Chicago, from an abortion evidently performed there that day. West was held by the coroner on June 21 and was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder on April 21, 1930.

Physician-abortionists were common in the Chicago of that era, sharing the market with an abundance of midwives.

Viola was buried in the [|Potter's Field of Oak Forest Hospital]. She was a homemaker, the wife of Clarence Keopping and the daughter of German immigrants Albert and Bertha //Kuchenbecker// Bordell.

Viola's abortion was typical of illegal abortions in that it was performed by a physician. Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s]. For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion] Source:


 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]

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